You may or may not know this about me but I'm a huge lover of baked goods. I've been baking by myself since Elementary school! No, I'm not the world's #1 Teenage cookie expert (I wish!) but I've come up with some very helpful hints that make all the difference when baking cookies.
1. Go Easy On the Butter
I've had those experiences where I put a little too much butter in the cookie dough and while the cookies bake, it's like they secrete oil that bubbles up around them - yuck! I've also had those unlucky experiences where I add exactly the amount of butter I'm supposed to and the same thing happens! I learned to always add just a little bit less butter than what the recipe calls for. Even adding one tablespoon less can be the difference between a cookie baked in an oil bath and a scrumptious cookie!
2. Cream together the butter and sugar well
You need to make sure that you cream together the butter and sugar really really well before adding any other ingredients to the mix. Typically, for chocolate chip cookies you use brown sugar and white sugar. I like to use around a quarter cup more brown sugar than white sugar because the brown sugar gives the chocolate chip cookie its unique flavor. You don't want to see the granules of sugar in your cookie! This is why you must make sure the sweetness is dissolved into the batter completely.
3. Never add Baking Soda
I've come across lots of recipes in my time that call for about a teaspoon or so of baking soda in the chocolate chip cookie batter. I used to faithfully abide by those recipes by adding the correct amount of baking soda - not anymore! Baking soda will cause your cookie to spread out - and sometimes a little more than you'd like! I no longer add baking soda to my cookie dough, since I don't like how much the cookies spread out and I've started using techniques that give me the perfect batch every time. Those obnoxiously large and thin cookies are super annoying anyway! Skip the baking soda if you feel the same way!
4. Cold dough is the best dough
Always refrigerate your cookie dough prior to scooping them onto your baking tray. First of all, cold dough is way easier to shape into a ball using your hands - room temperature dough is very sticky and can get messy quickly. Additionally, cold dough can prevent the cookie from turning out to be a little too spread out. I recommend refrigerating the dough for about 5-6 hours before use. If you have more time than that, I highly suggest you refrigerate the dough overnight for use the next day.
5. Cubes are cool too
Instead of shaping my cookie dough scoops into balls and plopping them down on my baking tray, I like to shape my tablespoons of dough into the shape of cubes. Yes, cubes. No, the cookies will not come out looking like some sort of prism - I find that shaping the dough into small cubes gives the cookies an overall neater shape. I find that they spread out a little more evenly compared to if I were to roll the dough into a ball or just plop a heaping tablespoon on the tray. They aren't perfectly circular but they're very aesthetically pleasing when they come out of the oven.
6. Electric mixers can be your worst enemy
This is also something I tend to avoid when baking brownies. When using electric mixers, you run the risk of over-mixing your dough and you can end up with very tough cookies. You want light, chewy cookies - not dense ones. Mix everything by hand so you are way less likely to over mix. When incorporating the flour (which is where people go wrong) you want to do just that - just incorporate not blend in thoroughly! The only thing I'll allow you to use an electric mixer for would be to cream together the butter and sugar - that's it!
7. Time is precious - bake for 11 minutes
Some recipes might tell you to bake your cookies for about 13 minutes. Others might tell you to keep your baking time to 9 minutes. I find that the optimal baking time is 11 minutes exactly. I know some people like to undertake their cookies because it's a commonly known fact that cookies harden a little even after being removed from heat however I don't like a super duper soft cookie. At the same time I don't like rock solid cookies either. I like them somewhere in between (as most people do) - chewy. Heat your oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit and bake your cookies for 11 minutes. Once they are completely cooled, the result will be fabulous!
8. Chocolate Bars add Gooeyness
If you like chocolate chip cookies that give you some gooey goodness from the chocolate then use chopped chocolate bar pieces in place of chocolate morsels. I sometimes buy a regular Hershey's chocolate bar, chop up the chocolate into chunks (not too tiny but not too large) and incorporate it into my dough. Some of the chunks become slightly melted which gives your cookie the right amount of gooeyness!
9. Avoid melted butter
You've probably realized that I've been talking about creamed butter every time I mention butter. This is the technique I choose to follow because it yields the best results for me. I told you all about how I hate those thin, crispy, spread out cookies. If you're the same way then NEVER melt your butter when baking cookies! First of all, they will crack like a sidewalk and second, they will be very thin and spread out. Cream your butter with your sugar combinations for well-structured cookies. Make sure the butter is room temperature since this creams the best.
10. Skip the parchment paper
I find that when I use parchment paper on top of my baking tray, my cookies end up slightly drier than if I just plop them down on a non-stick pan. This is because parchment paper tends to suck up oil (moisture) from the cookies. Cookies already dry and harden on their own after being removed from heat so we don't want them to be extra dry!
Hopefully I was able to provide you with some insight from my trials and errors in the kitchen. If you've been having problems with your homemade cookies then definitely let me know if one of these tips was the solution to your problem! Happy baking! =)
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